I had not heard of Gilbert Gunn until, maybe six or so years ago, when I saw advertised a stack of his papers including letters that he had written and these were for sale. A woman in the lovely Lincolnshire village of Woodhall Spa had these items and I purchased them and went to collect. My interest of course was his strong connection with the film industry – the British Film Industry specifically – which I am obviously interested in.

There are probably 40 or so papers in the folder – letters from 1949 up to 1958

Gilbert Gunn

ABOVE from 1958 – it seems a Theatrical

It seems that a Theatrical Agent was attempting to get some of his actors into a Gilbert Gunn film – and there are some famous names Actors not yet in the public eye such as Maggie Smith, Patricia Marmont, Ian Hendry and Peter Hammond

ABOVE and BELOW – Letters or Memos that Gilbert Gunn wrote to various people in -or connected with – the film world. There are quite a lot of them

Gilbert Gunn

Remembering Gilbert Gunn, screenwriter & director, born on this day in 1905

Screenwriter & director Gilbert Gunn was born in Scotland.

Not much is known about Gilbert Gunn, despite him directing some very popular films which are still regularly shown on channels such as Talking Pictures. It could be said that Gunn helped launch many a career in film, from directing Rachel Roberts and Kenneth Williams in their first credited film appearances, to Adam Faith in his first leading film role.

Gilbert Gunn started as a screenwriter, contributing scenes to several of the films he worked on as well as writing the screenplays of “Chamber of Horrors”, “Landfall”, and “Me & My Pal”.

After directing wartime recruitment shorts for the Ministry of Information, Gunn was enlisted by Elstree, then called ABPC, to create & compile a documentary to mark 25 years of the studios.

Over the course of three months, Gunn watched hundreds of hours of film, sometimes twice, to devise and produce “Elstree Story”, hosted by actor Richard Todd.

After “Elstree Story”, Gunn was entrusted to direct “Valley of Song“, the film adaptation of Cliff Gordon’s radio play “Choir Practice“. Gilbert wanting to use the original play title ‘Choir Practice’ but the film chiefs didn’t want that

Filmed at Elstree Studios and on location in Wales, the film marks the first credited film appearances of Rachel Roberts and Kenneth Williams. Coincidentally, Roberts & Williams both worked together in 1950 at Swansea repertory theatre under the directorship of Clifford Evans, who also stars in “Valley of Song“.

Gilbert Gunn must have been a pleasant director to work with as Kenneth Williams, who was never one to hold back, wrote the following in his diary when he visited Elstree on the 24th of October 1952:

“To Elstree for my one line in Choir Practice directed by Gilbert Gunn. It was all over for me by 12 o’c. Very nice. My father was played by Kenneth Evans. Two Kenneths. Terribly funny really.”

After “Valley of Song“, Gunn was reunited with John Fraser to direct him in “The Good Beginning”, after which he directed Zena Marshall in “My Wife’s Family”. This was followed by the sci-fi B-movie “The Strange World of Planet X” (released as “Cosmic Monsters” in the USA) and then “Girls at Sea” which Gunn also produced.
1959 saw the release of the army comedy “Operation Bullshine” directed by Gunn and featuring Barbara Murray, Carole Lesley, Naunton Wayne, Dora Bryan, & Amanda Barrie.

Gunn also directed “What a Whopper” with Adam Faith in his first starring film role. Adam had appeared in films previously, including “Beat Girl”, but “What a Whopper” put him front and centre alongside Carole Lesley and a cast including Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, and Wilfrid Brambell (plus an uncredited brief appearance by Amanda Barrie).

Gunn only made one appearance on film, in the 1941 production of “The Farmer’s Wife” as a pianist, presumably drafted in when the shout went up for a for a piano-player at ABPC studios.

Gilbert Gunn died at the age of 62 on the 6th of December 1967. Whilst the body of work he left behind may not be critically-acclaimed, it certainly provided an important showcase for up-and-coming stars and his films are still very enjoyed to this day, thanks to regular repeats on television and through re-issues of the titles on DVD.

BELOW

A film that Gilbert Gunn directed and he also wrote it

OPERATION BULLSHINE 1959

One of the actors in this was the lovely actress Joan Rice

In many ways this seemed to be a copy of The Prisoner of Zenda’ – a similar storyline.

In 1951 Anthony Dexter made his film debut in “VALENTINO”. The resemblance to the original silent screen idol was uncanny.

Columbia Pictures thought they would build him as a swashbuckler like his predecessor.

So this is the film that they cast him in – it was an adventure story supposedly based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas but with more similarities to Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda in that he plays a dual role – a wounded king and an adventurer who is persuaded to double for him.

Anothony.Dexter handles his role(s)well including exciting sword duels and several dance routines .The film is in Technicolor – always a selling point for me – and direction by Phil Karlson.

The supporting cast are very good – Anthony Quinn as the villain, the two female leads Jody Lawrence and Gale Robbins,and Carl Benton Reid

 The King of Mandoora (a mythical country on the Iberian peninsula near Spain,Portugal and Northern Africa and not far from France)and his look-a-like half commoner cousin Captain de Largo (Anthony Dexter)are much like the Zenda characters King Rudolf of Ruritania (a country in Western Europe bordering Germanic speaking countries)and his half English commoner cousin Rudolph Rassendyll.

Ramon the evil royal cousin (Anthony Quinn) is the equivalent of King Rudolf of Ruritania’s half-brother the ambitious Prince Michael and Prince Michael’s disloyal rogue of a friend Rupert of Hentzau. There are many similarities between the stories but that hardly matters because anyone who loves classic adventure and the works of Alexandre Dumas and Anthony Hope will be happy with this

There were dozens of these made in the late 40’s and early 50’s, all done in color and looking much more expensive than they really were. Anthony Dexter, shows a variety of traits as an irresponsible king and his lookalike cousin, brought in to impersonate him after another cousin (Anthony Quinn) attempted an assassination.

The beginning of the film shows the more heroic Dexter character working as a guard for a middle eastern king, involved in a bizarre subplot involving a jealous diplomat and his philandering wife. Colourful costumes, redesigned sets from other Columbia swashbuckling (of which there were many) and plenty action are the highlights, and Dexter and Quinn are fabulous adversaries. 

The Brigand 1952

The Brigand is an entertaining and engaging costume romp that is well filmed, and features an appealing and understated performance by that much underrated actor, Anthony Dexter, in the duo-lead roles. Able backing is provided by Anthony Quinn as the treacherous and slimy villain of the piece. So many movies of this type are throw-away and forgettable, but this one has sufficient pace, as well as a good storyline, to retain the viewers interest throughout. It’s such a fine movie that it’s difficult to understand why it’s never been released commercially, and remains to this day very much of a rarity. It’s also interesting to note that it was the follow-up feature to Valentino, for Anthony Dexter, and it’s perfectly clear that only bad luck prevented him from going on to be a top Hollywood star. Far lesser actors managed to forge long, star-studded careers for themselves, so it will always remain something of a mystery as to why Mr Dexter never reached the heights.

The Brigand 1952

The Brigand 1952 BELOW – Very Interesting that a comic such as the one below was issued. Maybe it was thought that would increase the Box Office business – certainly create interest outside of the Cinema

The Brigand 1952

I had no idea what the occasion was here but the article is headed ‘Ferguson for the Highlands’ – as I looked further into this I found quite a bit more information as below

ABOVE – Richard Todd hands over a new Ferguson Tractor for The Highland Fund to Lord Malcolm Douglas Hamilton – Lady Hamilton takes the driver’s seat and Catherine Todd Richard’s wife looks on

A blown up picture of Richard Todd from that same photograph. I at first thought that he had been up in Scotland for the filming of Rob Roy but then remembered that in all the pictures at that time. he was bearded.

Looking further this photograph was from the Arbroath Journal of July 1954

Catherine looking happy and very attractive

Lord Douglas Hamilton had married only the previous year in 1953 – It was his second marriage and her fourth.

Sadly Lord Douglas Hamilton was killed in a light plane crash in Cameroon in 1964 along with his son. Lady Hamilton actually lived to the age of 103 and died quite recently in 2013, 58 years or so after her husband’s death.

Richard Todd and his wife had been in Scotland for the premier of ‘Rob Roy, The Highland Rogue’ and whilst there met an Industrialist John Rollo who had designed a tractor to cope with the steep Highland fields. The Highland Fund was a Government body helping fund the small acre farmers / crofters and Richard Todd had been asked to do the presentation of this tractor to Lord Malcolm Douglas Hamilton

Nyoka was played by Frances Gifford way back in 1941 – iinitially a serial with cliff hanger endings that saw Nyoka swing through the treetops of the African Jungle much like Tarzan was doing at the same time

This film came from Republic and was a great success for the Studio

Jungle adventure abound with lots of thrills along the way

This was a good production with a lot of outdoor sequences

Frances Gifford stars as Nyoka

With Tom Neal

Nyoka was loosely based on a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs having introduced an Asian Heroine Princess Fountan in ‘The Land of Hidden Men’ in a serial in 1931

Republic Pictures purchased the rights to Jungle Girl and Frances Gifford was cast as Nyoka – however Republic created their own storyline.

One of Nyoka’s colleagues runs like crazy through the jungle to try to say her

ABOVE – A real cliff hanger as Nyoka tied to a stake has projectiles aimed at her which are held back by a carefully placed rope, that is slowly being burned through from a fire made by her enemies

Jungle adventure abound with lots of thrills along the way

The rope is slowly burning away – when will it give way and release the deadly spears

On to the next and last episode of this thrilling serial

Nyoka and Jack thank their jungle friends before flying off

Jungle adventure abound with lots of thrills along the way

‘The End’ with a jungle scene. I must admit that I really enjoyed this and it is recommended

As anyone reading this Blog over the years will realise, I am a great fan – always was – of these Cinema Double Feature.

Didn’t they look exciting

Cinema Double Features ABOVE Two Later ones from Hammer – Still with Christopher Lee as Count Dracula

Cinema Double Features ABOVE – From the USA Two good films

ABOVE – I really like ‘The Maze’ – a very intriguing story

ABOVE – A very early and memorable role from Oliver Reed. Also thinK that ‘The Shadow of the Cat’ looks quite scary

ABOVE = TWO Adventure films from Hammer

Cinema Double Feature – These two look to be a good pairing

Ken Annakin in his Autobiography and Richard Todd in some of his later interviews were particularly unkind in their remarks about Joan Rice after she had been the leading lady in ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ which as we all know Ken Annakin Directed and Richard Todd starred in.

They thought that she was a poor actress.

Walt Disney on the other hand was her admirer – he knew that she just looked the part and was determined that she would be IN. What he said went. He knew his audience so well – he knew that they would love her in the role – and we all did.

The film was a financial success worldwide

Next from Walt Disney came ‘The Sword and the Rose’ and then ‘Rob Roy The Highland Rogue’ – Ken Annakin directed the first one and Richard Todd starred in them both. They both had Glynis Johns in the lead who was well approved of by these two.

However neither film performed well at the Box Office – Rob Roy did OK in Britain but fared less well in the USA and other parts of the World.

So it seems that Ken Annakin and Richard Todd were pretty poor judges on actor’s abilities and their Box Office pulling power

Rob Roy was chosen for the Royal Film Premier that year – 1953. It was later reported that the Queen had not been particularly impressed by it – it is an opinion of mine that in the film the King was referred to by Rob Roy as ‘German Geordie’ – I have a feeling that the Queen would not have liked that

This was a good British Thriller that had a strong storyline and actors who were well up to the task of setting the ‘creepy’ scenes’ and making us all quite uneasy.

Natasha Parry, I always liked and thought how attractive she was

Crow Hollow is home to a somewhat eccentric family – and in that family is a Doctor who takes his newlywed bride to live there.The home is largely occupied by his Aunts ,an outwardly genial but really rather peculiar breed.One is a devoted spider collector ,having several large poisonous specimens around the house ,another busies herself with “good works”and one is a home maker with an obsessive interest in order and tidiness.

Soon the new bride begins to feel unwelcome -not surprising given she has a close encounter with a venomous spider and is fed poisoned drinks .It appears that for whatever reason, members of the family want rid of her and to see her replaced by a nubile young woman named Willow

It is very much a watchable B movie – I imagine that it would have gone out as a good supporting film on the cinema circuit

Back to the story – Dr. Armour Donald Houston, marries Ann and then barely shows her any attention at all and completely dismisses her concerns–and she has plenty! It’s obvious this is no match made in heaven. So why did the Doctor marry her and exactly what is going on in this weird mansion filled with his strange people?

Could someone really be attempting to kill her?

This is a pretty good mystery/suspense picture which is quite exciting and with a nice ending. Worth seeing with strong performances all around and a well written story.

I seem to have quite a regard for Lash Larue in many ways because he created a sort of brand from what was a small number of B films to such an extent that there were Lash Larue comics and other merchandise – all very popular at the time. With a better manager he could have really capitalised on this but I doubt that he ever did to any great extent. He was clever enough to see the potential of the bullwhip which made him stand out from the other cowboys of the time and helped him achieve a film career and made him well remembered

Directed by Ray Taylor
Starring Lash La Rue, Fuzzy St. John, Dan White, House Peters, Jr., Nancy Saunders

Outlaw Country (1949) is one of the later Lash pictures, and at 72 minutes, one of the longest. It features Lash La Rue’s long-lost twin brother, the Frontier Phantom — who turns up again the last Lash/Fuzzy film, The Frontier Phantom (1952).

The film was made for Western Adventure Productions, these had even lower budgets than the previous PRC pictures.

ABOVE – Lash Larue – Now here is someone who had the most famous and popular of all the ‘film themed’ comics for quite a few years. He invented a style and developed it in a range of films that did well at the Box Office and when these comics came out they proved to be one of the most successful ones – if not THE most successful.  They are still very collectable today.

I have just looked on ebay , and there are over 500 Lash Larue Comics on sale with prices up to £ 48 Pounds Sterling

Another Technicolor Western with great locations

This film was made a few years after Jeff Chandler played Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), this time the Apache chief is played by John Hodiak. In Tucson, ranchers are being raided by the Apache and Comanches.

Major Tom Burke (Robert Stack) is sent to stop the violence and establish peace with Cochise.

While he’s there, Burke becomes romantically very interested in Consuelo de Cordova (Joy Page).

ABOVE – Towards the end of the film when I would imagine the location work had been done, this studio set and pretty poor painted backdrop was not really very good.

Cochise also wants peace, but the Comanches do not, which leads to trouble. Joy Page;s character is captured by the Apaches and held hostage, with Robert Stack working to free her as she and Kodiak fall in love.

It’s a short picture, running just 70 minutes, with more talk than action — and Castle’s direction seems uncharacteristically stiff.

The picture’s greatest asset is certainly its cast. John Hodiak is quite good as Cochise, making the usual stilted Indian-speaking-white-man’s-tongue dialogue work. It’s his film really. Robert Stack is a stoic hero here, a bit like his Elliott Ness on The Untouchables. Joy Page is lovely. She and Robert Stack had been paired earlier in  Bullfighter And The Lady (1951). 

The cast and crew spent a lot of time at Vasquez Rocks, about an hour from the Columbia lot

They also shot some scenes at the Corrigan Ranch. Director Of Photography Henry Freulich captures it all in gorgeous Technicolor.

Katzman’s cost-cutting is painfully obvious, the history is questionable, the ending is too abrupt and Castle doesn’t seem to have found much inspiration in the script he was handed. However it is a film that, all in all, I really like.

The film really comes to life the final reel in which Cochise is sentenced to suffer three tortures – scalded by hot steam, then sliced with knife blades, and finally burned by fire.

Robert Stack makes takes the role as the hero and plays it well

The Colour photography just has to be good and it is in Technicolor – just about as good as it gets !!

The year before this, I well remember ‘Battle at Apache Pass’ with Jeff Chandler again as Cochise as he was in ‘Broken Arrow’

That was a good film.

Both of these were in Technicolor and Widescreen